Sennheiser PXC 450 Noise Cancelling Headphone Review

Not being someone shy of technology, I decided to take up an offer to review a set of Sennheiser PXC 450 Noise Cancelling Headphones. My previous experience with noise cancelling headphones includes owning the
following sets, Sennheiser PXC 250, PlaneQuiet Platinum, and Bose QuietComfort2 Noise Cancelling Headphones.

How noise cancelling technology work?

Noise cancelling technology works by detecting low frequency repeating ambient noise via microphone/s built into the headset, this noise is then electronically processed to generate an inverse of the noise thru the headphone which in effect cancels out your unwanted background noise.

Don’t buy a set of noise cancelling headphones expecting it will eliminate all unwanted noise, because as mentioned above this technology only works effectively on repeating low frequency sound, for example the noise of a jet engine, air noise heard in the cabin.

At first sight the Sennheiser PXC 450 Noise Cancelling Headphones are comparable in size to Bose QuietComfort2 Noise Cancelling Headphones, yet much larger than the Sennheiser PXC 250. Sound quality & noise cancelling wise all three of my previous sets have nothing on the Sennheiser PXC 450’s. Simply put its sound quality is superb & its noise cancelling abilities are second to none.

The Noise cancelling technology which Sennheiser has implemented in it PXC 450s is referred to as NoiseGard™ 2.0 and claims to eliminate up to 90% of unwanted background noise, this is achieved thru both the headphones superior noise cancelling electronics & also passively thru the headphones well designed earpads.

Most of the controls for the PXC 450 are located on right side headphone, these being the power on/of, Volume +/- and the talk through buttons.

On first use I found these controls a little hard to find (now are the controls on the right or left side and which button was Volume -) this is especially true if you are used to noise cancelling headphones with controls on the audio cable, however after my second flight I knew the exact positions for each button.

wA neat feature I love about the Sennheiser PXC 450 noise cancelling headphones is the Talk Through feature which allows the wearer at the press of a button to listen & talk to someone without having to take off their headphones, this is achieved by using the same built-in microphones, used for noise cancelling to pass the conversation thru to your headphones.

Picture 2: The controls on the right hand side headphone

Even though the Sennheiser PXC 450 Noise Cancelling Headphones are a tough and durable set of foldable, they are a little larger than what I am used to after owning Sennheiser’s PXC 250 for many years, initially it was hard to travel with this larger set, however I do take my music & in-flight comfort seriously and in my opinion the larger set was a small trade off for the superior sound quality and noise cancelling abilities of the Sennheiser PXC450.

What comes in the Sennheiser PXC 450 box:

Sennheiser PXC450 Noise Cancelling headphones

Set of AAA batteries

Soft protective case

2 plug adaptors (1 X Airline plug & 1 X 6,3 plug adaptor)

Instruction Manual

Cheapest Price Online: US $240.00

Score 8.5/10

Pros

Outstanding Sound and Noise Cancellation quality

Detachable audio cable Long 1.4 meter cable length

Talk through feature allowing you to hear someone/take part
in a conversation without taking off your headphones.

Cons

Large size (Well larger than my set of Sennheiser PXC 250s)

Cost – A fair bit more expensive than an average set of Noise Cancelling headphones